“Yahoo China has been blatantly infringing our members’ rights. We have started the process and as far as we’re concerned we’re on the track to litigation,” said John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of the music industry trade group the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

“If negotiation can prevent that, so be it,” he added.

[...] Yahoo China is a partnership between Internet giant Yahoo Inc, which owns 40 percent of the business, and China’s Alibaba.com. The IFPI has blasted Yahoo China’s search engine for providing links to Web sites that offer unlicensed music downloads.